ST. LOUIS – At first blush, seeing Tino Martinez in the lineup at first base yesterday, it seemed Joe Torre had seen enough of Jason Giambi at first base Friday night.

Giambi encountered a very tough time at the bag even though he wasn’t charged with one of the three errors the Yankees made in a very sloppy 8-1 loss to the Cardinals.

Torre said Giambi was rusty from limited playing time at first, and said his decision to start Martinez over Giambi was because Martinez was 5-for-10 (.500) against Cards starter Mark Mulder; Giambi was 5-for-13 (.385).

“To me, he hasn’t [played first] in a while,” Torre said of Giambi, whose previous start at first was Tuesday night. “[Friday night] he didn’t look relaxed.”

Martinez, who started the game in a 3-for-31 (.097) slump, went 0-for-4.

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Torre hopped in a miniature convertible after the fifth inning and was driven to the right-field corner of Busch Stadium to remove the No. 50 from the countdown of games remaining at the ballpark before it is torn down at the end of the season.

Torre, who starred for and managed the Cardinals, received a standing ovation as the car circled the field; he responded by doffing his cap.

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Rey Sanchez was wearing a cervical collar to stabilize his neck yesterday morning after an MRI exam revealed two bulging disks in his upper back.

Torre, who planned to start Sanchez at second yesterday, said Sanchez was listed as day-to-day, but it could be more serious based on what Sanchez said when asked when he thought he could play again.

“I couldn’t tell you,” said Sanchez, who explained he first felt the injury on the off day Thursday. “I can’t raise my arm. It’s not really pain, but it feels like somebody is dragging you down.”

Torre stayed with Robinson Cano at second rather than use right-handed Russ Johnson against lefty Mulder. Torre was going to play Sanchez because Cano started the game batting .107 (3-for-28) against lefties.

Cano went 0-for-2 with a run scored.

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Even though John Flaherty hadn’t caught Randy Johnson since a minor-league spring-training game in March, Torre stuck to his plan of giving Jorge Posada off the day game after a night game.

“We are trying to do different things to find something, but the most important reason is for Jorge and the day-night thing,” Torre said.